Malarkey

I am sad that screening of a film like Green Horse Rustlers was so limited in the Czech cinemas. Not only in number of cinemas that it showed, but also in the number of screenings. It’s a pity. The theme is interesting and the acting performances of Pavel Liška and Jenovéfa Boková are truly phenomenal. The problem is that the whole thing is just too ordinary and basically from everyday life. The film lacks any stronger plot line and it ends the same way it begins. The ending is more realistic than film-like, which certainly doesn’t hurt. Only it made it into a small Czech film revolving around moldavites instead of a great Czech drama.

What is nice about this film is the fact that the main character is played by Andrew Scott, who seems truly mentally unstable and really relishes his part. It is not usual in drama. But his behavior may not be your cup of tea and while watching you may get mad about it the same way as his daughter does. That is the only thing that might annoy you about this film so much that you may even condemn it. But that would be a pity. Steel Country is a magnificently dark film experience from a classical boor American setting with a nice climax, which convinces you of the film’s qualities in the final scene, which when it comes to drama isone of the best I’ve seen lately.

Who would have guessed that the creators can make a prehistoric story into one of the nicest films about the friendship of a man and a dog. A nice surprise, where the bar is unnecessarily lowered by its beginning, but once a young boy and a wolf enter the stage, then every scene features a beautiful shot and brings you a dose of emotions.

If I was riding on a wave of French humor à la Alain Chabat, I would perhaps appreciate it more. The police station that seemed like a madhouse was the best and I have to admit I’ve had trouble trying not to laugh. But the Taxi series should be about something else. The main character, the bald guy, who even directed this instalment, was quite okay, it was his wingman who was a total loser. Similarly, also the car shots were really bad. It did not have the dynamic of the first instalments. Everything car-related looked extremely cheap. If not for the humor, which was at times unnecessarily toilet and made all characters into a bunch of idiots, which was not also not a good thing and does not really fit in with this series, I would even say it was a total garbage.

Until I saw An Officer and a Gentleman, I thought that Richard Gere is type-cast as a lover who never really showed his acting skills, but enjoyed an enormous amount of erotic scenes, even though you would not think of him as the type. However, after seeing this film I have to say he performed probably the best role in his career. At first glance the film appears as that kind of a mix between romance, comedy and drama, which it actually is. The romance plot did not ruin it, quite the contrary. It’s not as bittersweet as might seem. Even a commander of an infantry regiment appears in the film – the actor Louis Gossett Jr., and I totally understand why he got an Oscar for this part. I wouldn’t think that this actor from the Stargate has such an acting history – hats off. I really enjoyed this film. After all, it has a kind of a male spirit that the films nowadays lack so much.

First I have to say that young adult fantasy does not offend me at all, on the contrary, it is relaxing to watch how the young and the restless struggle in dystopian worlds full of qualm and evil with indefinite ending. The Darkest Minds are in a similar vein and I would even be willing to rate this film with three stars just for the effort to film something like this. But the problem isthat the film has a crazy love plot that resembles the Twilight, plus the authors used really bad digital effects that put this film among the B-listed, which does not help the story either.

Crazy Hungarians enter the scene with a completely unbelievable action sequence of shots where a two and a half meter tall Hungarian beats up half of a village, kicking off a European-style western film. This feel is enhanced by the parched locations, which proves that even Hungary nowadays has troubles with drought, and the characters themselves, where it is strikingly obvious who is good and who is evil. The course of events throughout the film is funny, but at times not as effective as the super action-packed beginning. It certainly is an interesting Hungarian small-scale movie, which aspires to be different and more or less succeeds in doing so.

I can’t help myself, the Turks keep convincing me how interesting and western-oriented their cinematography is. The film tells a story of young people, whose father suddenly wants to sayhis goodbyes to them, although they haven’t seen him for half of their lives. It has the spirit of a nice road film showing a part of northern Turkey, including the characters’ hometown. In the second half the story slows down a bit, adds on the drama and then charms the viewer with a well-thought ending. Everything is interwoven by inconspicuous but all the more fun dark humor, which can appear at unexpected moments; as a whole, the movie has an unusual spirit of a unique family drama, which, when it comes to the filmmaking art, has everything that is needed to make the biggest possible impact on the audience, in the positive sense of the word.

A great interpretation of an absurd story from America. I almost think that a similar story couldn’t happen in any other place. Exploiting the system, cheating the neighbors, a psychological bomb where you just stare at the way some people are living. Add some great acting performances, excellent filmmaking craftand some scenes bordering on genius, which in eight episodes keep the quality high and truly entertain the viewer. Sometimes it is stretched a bit too much, but this show certainly occupies the top spot among psychological dramas. I am curious what the next season will bring, as The Act ought to present similar absurd cases of American justice in every season. The premise is good, let’s see where it moves from there.

I went to see this show with the notion that it seems mysterious and the description does not say much. What caught my attention right in the first episode was the fact that they played pure trance at the disco. I thought that there must be someone in the crew who knows how to do their job and knows what it means when the disco is really pumping. Finally it did not look like a disco for a deaf people’s union. However, after two episodes I realized that the whole story is much more ordinary and not really that mysterious as it seemed at first glance after seeing the poster with pig masks. It is rather a psychological drama, a bit in a similar vein as Cruel Intentions and the whole thing is meant to some sort of genius parable with serious issues looking like world-famous fairytales. I personally did not find them there and after watching the whole season I was glad I don’t have to keep watching. I consider it totally mediocre.